Lead Admin Election: Boom's Q&A

[boombrakh]

Hi everyone,
Some of you might have noticed that i've nominated myself for Lead Admin and I would like to follow in Veilans foot steps and open up my very own Q&A. (link to the self-nomination is here)

So, here goes.. *puts on his wizard hat and robe*

(Below, I will collect all my answers so that people doesn't have to read through the whole thread)

Spoiler:

1 - What is your stance on allowing the option for new pc's to start at level 2? ((A side note since you probably weren't active, last time the community was polled on this, it was supported by the majority))

That was a great question and I completely support it. This gives new and old players a more sporting chance to create a character that will last longer without forcing them to play characters that has to go through the same tedious process each time of being "new" to the adventuring game. It increases survivability and jumpstarts the character on his journey and we as a community has a greater chance to take part of that players vision for his character.
Because of the rule that you can't create a new version of the same character after the first one dies, a dead character is like an unfinished novel that no one will ever get to read and you will never get to finish. And we are all here to tell and partake of a story.

2 - What is your stance on allowing one of the active servers to have the password removed to be used as a recruiting tool? (I understand there are other issues to be worked out, like capping non-ALFA member at 3, but the basic idea is what I am after.)

It is an intriguing question that brings back memories to the Open Application Server and I like it. Hell, i'd even go so far as to nominate Waterdeep when it is done because I have such faith in the people I'll be working with, the quality of the server and the players that it would work. A lot of players can be a great addition to our community but doesn't join for different reasons. Having fun is what it is all about, having fun while maintaining a high level of roleplaying quality. As an idea, I like this.

3 - I have been around a long time, but only recently became active as a DM, Builder, and follower of the forums. One of the things I remember about you is that you are up and down. The saying, "The star that burns brightest, burns out the quickest...". How can you ensure us that you will see your term through?

You are completely correct, that used to be the case. I was also a person who had problems channeling my passion for this project in always constructive ways. And as you noted, I used to be a very up and down and I even believe I used a saying describing myself at one point. Since then, which has to be some five years ago, life changed me. First of all, I got five years older. Second, I learned about real responsibility and I hate to always talk about my job as if that in any way made me a better candidate than anyone else, but what it has taught me is to work with people for long periods of time. The biggest change from then and now, I have to say is that I invest for the future now. I am not an "instant gratification" kind of person anymore.
To sum it up if I will last the term: Hells yes. It's only six months and six months fly by in a jiffy!

4 - Do you think that you will have the time and stamina to handle this job and develope a new server (building, scripting, tooling, troubleshooting, updating, etc...) ?

Absolutely. Considering my goal to make this community "fun", that includes all levels of "government". First of all, while I take the assignment serious, it shouldn't be a "serious" assignment. This is not about life and death, it is about getting people to come together, play a game, tell a story (eat some Cheetos) and have a bit of fun.
Secondly, I have a small team now which will hopefully grow. The team will focus on building and scripting and everything else that needs to be done on the tech side of things. Like I mentioned on the server proposal page for Waterdeep, I want it to be a collaboratory project. If you want to get involved, then get involved. It isn't *my* server, it's ALFA's server. The reason why I am fronting it is because I know that my strong suit doesn't lie in the building or scripting, tooling or troubleshooting, but it lies in creating and telling amazing stories that create memories.

And what we all have in common is that we want to have fun, be creative and tell our stories. We all contribute the way we can.


I hope that answered your questions to your satistfaction. I am looking forward to the next batch.

A personal matter first of all (well, sort of person, given time investment I guess). Veilan's recently asked me to help out with Internal PR, as he calls it, or Player Retention as I call it. The goal is to increase the number of players who stick around. I've ptu together a mid-term plan here. Is this something that you would be willing to invest time in? Do you have any thoughts on how it could be done in a better manner?

Much of what I can read in that post is very similar to what we do at work when it comes to our new employees. I am in the buisiness of sales and keeping people in that business is hard at times. We work with retention at all times, while not "buying" them.
This looks great and I completely support it. Mostly because it is an initiative that is needed and both people and communities need to be self-critical and reflect over why things are as they are and then see what can be done to change certain outcomes.
I actually wanted to mention this in my initial post but I didn't want to intrude on Veilans "thing" here as I don't like the idea of running against someone and their views, but rather running for yourself on your own merits.
In short, I feel that you have a great model here and some of it, I feel I could apply in my real life as well at my workplace. Good job.

Another big project I began nearly a year ago now when I was Lead, is consolidation of the rules. In short, a new member complained that there was no one place to look for all the rules, so we've started piling them together in one easy place. KMJ continued it, and now Veilan has continued it further. It's a slow, time consuming endeavour, as the current state of ALFA rules are seriously messed up. Current process can be found here. Is this something you feel you can get behind? Is it a waste of time, or time well spent?

That is extensive and way too big for me to get a complete look at in such a brief glance. What I get tho is that it is a good initiative and it goes in line with retaining players as the sheer bulk of rules can be daunting at times and we all need a place where we can read up on them.
It is definitely not a waste of time. I like that even bigger tasks such as this gets the attention it needs. Most often people tend to put off "spring cleaning" because it's such a big project. It would be really odd for me not to support it as it is a really good initiative.

The topic has come up recently of ALFA's charter and governing structure. A fair few people have claimed that it is out of date and really needs to be changed to better cope with a small community like we are now. As Lead Admin it would be your job to lead such changed. What are your thoughts here? Do you see a need to change the current model we use? How would you like to see that changed?

I have mentioned before that we need some change in our community in order to catch up with the players that are out there. But I don't want to compromise on quality because that is one thing of what I really like about this project. On a personal level, I don't think we need a bunch of Admins or staff and half of the charter can be consolidated into a smaller version. What we need to focus on and really put effort into, is to have fun and not make more rules and regulations. Creativity shouldn't be regulated or governed, it should be encuraged. So in essence, anything that restricts a player from creativity is in my opinion something that should be examined and have it's pros and cons weighed against eachother.

Veilan currently has a core group of 4 staff on board, helping him with various matters. Do you have any staff in mind? Have you contacted, or plan on contacting, his current staff to see if they'd be happy helping out?

I have no staff in mind, no. That is to say, I have not given it much thought, nor have I contacted Veilans current staff. Somewhere, I am hoping that people don't help out because they have a personal relation to the "boss", but because they feel they can contribute. I would never deny someone that opportunity as it is fundamental in keeping this community alive.

Finally, would you consider helping out with things like Public Relations even if you loose?

Absolutely. I mean, I already do. In the past week I've gotten one new member, two more are applying before the week is over, most likely one more the week after that. I am getting old players to return as well. I post things about ALFA on Facebook, I tell people about it when I am among friends. I use the most reliable source of advertisement really, word-to-mouth.
ALFA deserves to get as many players as we can, it strives on collective creativity, and that is why it is the most important thing for me right now.

To which historical dictator or despot would you compare yourself?

That one wasn't as easy as I had hoped it to be but in the end I felt for a despot and king by the name of Gustav III of Sweden.

Gustav III of Sweden was a patron of the arts and benefactor of arts and literature who founded several academies and had the Royal Swedish Opera built. In 1772 he founded the Royal Order of Vasa to acknowledge and reward those Swedes who had helped to advance process in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce.

Gustav III of Sweden is today one of the most famous kings in swedish history and has been portrayed in movies as well as literature over the years.

For more information on king Gustav III of Sweden, click here

So you want to build Waterdeep entirely from scratch, be the HDM to that team, play a character, AND be Lead Admin?

Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yes. I don't see how that is a problem unless you have a problem prioritizing and delegating responsibilities. First misconception is to think that I am pulling this whole weight by myself. When it comes to building Waterdeep, I have skilled people on the team and volunteers who is not on the team to help out. I've been an HDM before and unless something drastically changed since last time, I doubt it will be a problem. I am going to spend most of my time on Waterdeep and DM anyways and only play a character on scheduled sessions.
As for being Lead Admin, I am not going to belittle it. I've only read the charter and spoken to a few of the former Lead Admins about what it is/was like as a Lead Admin. I would like to think that I have a pretty clear picture of what will be expected from me and it does not look like it will be a problem.

Hello. What makes you a better candidate for lead admin than Veilan?

Nothing really. That is, I am not running "against" Veilan and should not be measured against him. Each of us is running on our own merit and not opposed the others. I hope to win based on the fact that a majority of the members supports my ideas and rather not because of "discontent votes". I would rather lose based on the fact that what I want for the community is not shared by a majority than to win and not really be supported.
I do not want to nor will I compare myself to Veilan, he is a good guy who is doing exactly what I am; whatever he can to try and give back to a community that has been here for us all for a very long time.

How do you feel power ought to be distributed in ALFA?

Wow, that is a big question and i'll try to answer that as good as I can. Personally I don't think that "power" should be a word used in a collaboratory community. But that aside, and focus on the question at hand. First of all, I believe that we have too many "positions" in ALFA. This enforces the illusion of "power" wheras the real power actually comes from our members because without them, there really isn't any reason to have all these rules and regulations and "power" to begin with.

If you are looking for an ideal infrastructure for the "governing" body of ALFA, then it is hard to find a perfect solution because every one in my opinion carries with them their own set of problems. So basically what it comes down to, is which set of problems do we find the easiest to manage?
Me, personally, I'd like for the community as a whole to work for what ALFA already have; the pillars. They get overlooked as the most focus is always on the Charter as it is the one thing that keeps regulating and restricting how we reach the goals of the pillars that was set up. I'd like for the community to reach decisions together instead of just having an opinion and for it to mean nothing. But I also recognize the value of the "Admin" so to speak, because in a community such as this, there is a need to centralize voices into a few in order to actually reach a decision.
In order to do that though, the ones who gets to carry these voices must do so as representatives for the community and not as individuals who have absolute say based on their own personal preferences.

This is why I feel that the electorial process that ALFA has is a great way to get a representative democracy. Problem with it today is that the titles of the Admin restricts people from running for them and thus preventing the possibility to fully take advantage of the process. Tech Admin and Infra Admin shouldn't be Admin positions, they should be "Head of..." positions, just like DM Admin and Player Admin. We shouldn't have different Admins, because in essence, these positions shouldn't be used to rule, but to lead. I want it more to be less like G7 and more like a Senate. Bring the position of Admin back to the members because no one member should be more or less qualified to be Admin than another.

Should the admin have the final say on anything within any single server or should the HDM of said server have the final word?

Also a good and hard to give a short answer kind of question. I like those.
I want to say it is as simple as letting the HDM's have their own final say on what goes on their servers, but since it's not really their servers. The reason I say this is because very few servers in ALFA history was actually kept solely under the HDM-ship of the one who started it and the position is more a position of responsibility than it is a position of privilege. Saying that the Admin should have final say on a server is a bit like indulging micromanagement and shouldn't really be needed. The Admin body is somewhat like the position of the HDM, one of responsibility. You get elected on the premise of what you can/want to contribute with and based on that, the community follows suit.

In order to be truly successful again, we need to come together as a community and stop thinking in terms of mine and yours and start considering it as ours. We are all in this together and it is as a group that we will build something great. The building of Waterdeep isn't for me, it's for the community. There is no prestige in being an HDM. There is no prestige in being an Admin. (Or at least, there shouldn't be.)

[Ksiel]

A few questions:

1 - What is your stance on allowing the option for new pc's to start at level 2? ((A side note since you probably weren't active, last time the community was polled on this, it was supported by the majority))

2 - What is your stance on allowing one of the active servers to have the password removed to be used as a recruiting tool? (I understand there are other issues to be worked out, like capping non-ALFA member at 3, but the basic idea is what I am after.)

3 - I have been around a long time, but only recently became active as a DM, Builder, and follower of the forums. One of the things I remember about you is that you are up and down. The saying, "The star that burns brightest, burns out the quickest...". How can you ensure us that you will see your term through?

4 - Do you think that you will have the time and stamina to handle this job and develope a new server (building, scripting, tooling, troubleshooting, updating, etc...) ?

[boombrakh]

1 - What is your stance on allowing the option for new pc's to start at level 2? ((A side note since you probably weren't active, last time the community was polled on this, it was supported by the majority))

That was a great question and I completely support it. This gives new and old players a more sporting chance to create a character that will last longer without forcing them to play characters that has to go through the same tedious process each time of being "new" to the adventuring game. It increases survivability and jumpstarts the character on his journey and we as a community has a greater chance to take part of that players vision for his character.
Because of the rule that you can't create a new version of the same character after the first one dies, a dead character is like an unfinished novel that no one will ever get to read and you will never get to finish. And we are all here to tell and partake of a story.

2 - What is your stance on allowing one of the active servers to have the password removed to be used as a recruiting tool? (I understand there are other issues to be worked out, like capping non-ALFA member at 3, but the basic idea is what I am after.)

It is an intriguing question that brings back memories to the Open Application Server and I like it. Hell, i'd even go so far as to nominate Waterdeep when it is done because I have such faith in the people I'll be working with, the quality of the server and the players that it would work. A lot of players can be a great addition to our community but doesn't join for different reasons. Having fun is what it is all about, having fun while maintaining a high level of roleplaying quality. As an idea, I like this.

3 - I have been around a long time, but only recently became active as a DM, Builder, and follower of the forums. One of the things I remember about you is that you are up and down. The saying, "The star that burns brightest, burns out the quickest...". How can you ensure us that you will see your term through?

You are completely correct, that used to be the case. I was also a person who had problems channeling my passion for this project in always constructive ways. And as you noted, I used to be a very up and down and I even believe I used a saying describing myself at one point. Since then, which has to be some five years ago, life changed me. First of all, I got five years older. Second, I learned about real responsibility and I hate to always talk about my job as if that in any way made me a better candidate than anyone else, but what it has taught me is to work with people for long periods of time. The biggest change from then and now, I have to say is that I invest for the future now. I am not an "instant gratification" kind of person anymore.
To sum it up if I will last the term: Hells yes. It's only six months and six months fly by in a jiffy!

4 - Do you think that you will have the time and stamina to handle this job and develope a new server (building, scripting, tooling, troubleshooting, updating, etc...) ?

Absolutely. Considering my goal to make this community "fun", that includes all levels of "government". First of all, while I take the assignment serious, it shouldn't be a "serious" assignment. This is not about life and death, it is about getting people to come together, play a game, tell a story (eat some Cheetos) and have a bit of fun.
Secondly, I have a small team now which will hopefully grow. The team will focus on building and scripting and everything else that needs to be done on the tech side of things. Like I mentioned on the server proposal page for Waterdeep, I want it to be a collaboratory project. If you want to get involved, then get involved. It isn't *my* server, it's ALFA's server. The reason why I am fronting it is because I know that my strong suit doesn't lie in the building or scripting, tooling or troubleshooting, but it lies in creating and telling amazing stories that create memories.

And what we all have in common is that we want to have fun, be creative and tell our stories. We all contribute the way we can.


I hope that answered your questions to your satistfaction. I am looking forward to the next batch.

[Rotku]

I am looking forward to the next batch.

Ooo! Ooo! Me! Pick me!

A personal matter first of all (well, sort of person, given time investment I guess). Veilan's recently asked me to help out with Internal PR, as he calls it, or Player Retention as I call it. The goal is to increase the number of players who stick around. I've ptu together a mid-term plan here. Is this something that you would be willing to invest time in? Do you have any thoughts on how it could be done in a better manner?

Another big project I began nearly a year ago now when I was Lead, is consolidation of the rules. In short, a new member complained that there was no one place to look for all the rules, so we've started piling them together in one easy place. KMJ continued it, and now Veilan has continued it further. It's a slow, time consuming endeavour, as the current state of ALFA rules are seriously messed up. Current process can be found here. Is this something you feel you can get behind? Is it a waste of time, or time well spent?

The topic has come up recently of ALFA's charter and governing structure. A fair few people have claimed that it is out of date and really needs to be changed to better cope with a small community like we are now. As Lead Admin it would be your job to lead such changed. What are your thoughts here? Do you see a need to change the current model we use? How would you like to see that changed?

Veilan currently has a core group of 4 staff on board, helping him with various matters. Do you have any staff in mind? Have you contacted, or plan on contacting, his current staff to see if they'd be happy helping out?

Finally, would you consider helping out with things like Public Relations even if you loose?

There we go! I asked 5. I win!

[boombrakh]

Ooo! Ooo! Me! Pick me!

Consider yourself picked, mister!

A personal matter first of all (well, sort of person, given time investment I guess). Veilan's recently asked me to help out with Internal PR, as he calls it, or Player Retention as I call it. The goal is to increase the number of players who stick around. I've ptu together a mid-term plan here. Is this something that you would be willing to invest time in? Do you have any thoughts on how it could be done in a better manner?

Much of what I can read in that post is very similar to what we do at work when it comes to our new employees. I am in the buisiness of sales and keeping people in that business is hard at times. We work with retention at all times, while not "buying" them.
This looks great and I completely support it. Mostly because it is an initiative that is needed and both people and communities need to be self-critical and reflect over why things are as they are and then see what can be done to change certain outcomes.
I actually wanted to mention this in my initial post but I didn't want to intrude on Veilans "thing" here as I don't like the idea of running against someone and their views, but rather running for yourself on your own merits.
In short, I feel that you have a great model here and some of it, I feel I could apply in my real life as well at my workplace. Good job.

Another big project I began nearly a year ago now when I was Lead, is consolidation of the rules. In short, a new member complained that there was no one place to look for all the rules, so we've started piling them together in one easy place. KMJ continued it, and now Veilan has continued it further. It's a slow, time consuming endeavour, as the current state of ALFA rules are seriously messed up. Current process can be found here. Is this something you feel you can get behind? Is it a waste of time, or time well spent?

That is extensive and way too big for me to get a complete look at in such a brief glance. What I get tho is that it is a good initiative and it goes in line with retaining players as the sheer bulk of rules can be daunting at times and we all need a place where we can read up on them.
It is definitely not a waste of time. I like that even bigger tasks such as this gets the attention it needs. Most often people tend to put off "spring cleaning" because it's such a big project. It would be really odd for me not to support it as it is a really good initiative.

The topic has come up recently of ALFA's charter and governing structure. A fair few people have claimed that it is out of date and really needs to be changed to better cope with a small community like we are now. As Lead Admin it would be your job to lead such changed. What are your thoughts here? Do you see a need to change the current model we use? How would you like to see that changed?

I have mentioned before that we need some change in our community in order to catch up with the players that are out there. But I don't want to compromise on quality because that is one thing of what I really like about this project. On a personal level, I don't think we need a bunch of Admins or staff and half of the charter can be consolidated into a smaller version. What we need to focus on and really put effort into, is to have fun and not make more rules and regulations. Creativity shouldn't be regulated or governed, it should be encuraged. So in essence, anything that restricts a player from creativity is in my opinion something that should be examined and have it's pros and cons weighed against eachother.

Veilan currently has a core group of 4 staff on board, helping him with various matters. Do you have any staff in mind? Have you contacted, or plan on contacting, his current staff to see if they'd be happy helping out?

I have no staff in mind, no. That is to say, I have not given it much thought, nor have I contacted Veilans current staff. Somewhere, I am hoping that people don't help out because they have a personal relation to the "boss", but because they feel they can contribute. I would never deny someone that opportunity as it is fundamental in keeping this community alive.

Finally, would you consider helping out with things like Public Relations even if you loose?

Absolutely. I mean, I already do. In the past week I've gotten one new member, two more are applying before the week is over, most likely one more the week after that. I am getting old players to return as well. I post things about ALFA on Facebook, I tell people about it when I am among friends. I use the most reliable source of advertisement really, word-to-mouth.
ALFA deserves to get as many players as we can, it strives on collective creativity, and that is why it is the most important thing for me right now.

There we go! I asked 5. I win!

That you do! Have some doom-covered moose!

[Heero]

To which historical dictator or despot would you compare yourself?

[boombrakh]

To which historical dictator or despot would you compare yourself?

That one wasn't as easy as I had hoped it to be but in the end I felt for a despot and king by the name of Gustav III of Sweden.

Gustav III of Sweden was a patron of the arts and benefactor of arts and literature who founded several academies and had the Royal Swedish Opera built. In 1772 he founded the Royal Order of Vasa to acknowledge and reward those Swedes who had helped to advance process in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce.

Gustav III of Sweden is today one of the most famous kings in swedish history and has been portrayed in movies as well as literature over the years.

For more information on king Gustav III of Sweden, click here

Fun fact: My choice of despot is the nephew-in-law of Veilans choice. King Gustav III of Sweden was the eldest son of the sister to Frederick II of Prussia.

[CloudDancing]

So you want to build Waterdeep entirely from scratch, be the HDM to that team, play a character, AND be Lead Admin?

Look its been nearly two years for me in Alfa and this is simply a recipe for burn out or a way to loose your job/house/and/or signifigant other.

I have seen people come and go from abscences, doing a whole bunch, getting fed up, and leaving in two or three months. I have seen DMs and HDMs come in yelling about change and insulting others and generally making Alfa an unpleasent place to be and simply by waiting paitently they burned out and went away.

Really, I fear you need to prioritize here. Pick one thing and be the best at it. It is the simple recipe for sucess in buisness.

After seeing people spend months getting a server just right, or worse having to fix a server cobbled together by waves and waves of quitters who never finished their work, I just don't see how you can do both job and either:

1. Do them both half-assedly and neither comes to fruition
2. Do them both the best you can and see your work come out broken
3. Do them both properly and loose sleep, RL time, ruin your RL social life and work life, and make yourself ill and/or in debt?

[Vendrin]

Welcome back boom, good to see you and good luck.

[boombrakh]

There weren't much in the line of questions here, but I'll take the time to reply to the paragraphs that i've quoted. The parts I left out, I had no constructive reply to.

So you want to build Waterdeep entirely from scratch, be the HDM to that team, play a character, AND be Lead Admin?

Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yes. I don't see how that is a problem unless you have a problem prioritizing and delegating responsibilities. First misconception is to think that I am pulling this whole weight by myself. When it comes to building Waterdeep, I have skilled people on the team and volunteers who is not on the team to help out. I've been an HDM before and unless something drastically changed since last time, I doubt it will be a problem. I am going to spend most of my time on Waterdeep and DM anyways and only play a character on scheduled sessions.
As for being Lead Admin, I am not going to belittle it. I've only read the charter and spoken to a few of the former Lead Admins about what it is/was like as a Lead Admin. I would like to think that I have a pretty clear picture of what will be expected from me and it does not look like it will be a problem.

I have seen people come and go from abscences, doing a whole bunch, getting fed up, and leaving in two or three months. I have seen DMs and HDMs come in yelling about change and insulting others and generally making Alfa an unpleasent place to be and simply by waiting paitently they burned out and went away.

I appreciate that, but I am not here to make a big deal about anything. I am driven to do my best to make this community a positive one where people who come together to have fun is the most important thing. Distrust and other negative influences has no place in this community.

Really, I fear you need to prioritize here. Pick one thing and be the best at it. It is the simple recipe for sucess in buisness.

I know it is, I run one. But this isn't a business and even if it was, I am not the one who runs it. We all are, as a community. It sounds like a line, I know, but it's true. If I thought that this community would prosper as a result of a selected few, i'd have never thrown my hat in the ring and nominate myself for Lead Admin.

[boombrakh]

Welcome back boom, good to see you and good luck.

Thank you very much Vendrin. It is great to be back and I couldn't imagine a better time in my life to be a part of ALFA.

[CloudDancing]

My attempt failed the "phrase your comments in the form of a useful question" test.
I am in crabby mode, and it is nothing personal to you.

But i appreciate you addressing my concerns for your health and well-being and that of your projects. You have good ideas and a good heart for it.

[Virvaldin]

Have you even played the NWN2 game? or the expansions? or even opened up the toolset yet?

Nevermind that. I know you will be a good asset to the community wether it be as a HDM, LA or just a DM. When you get around to getting a server up ill make sure i create a character and join that server

If it wasnt for the fact that the missus takes up so much time i would even consider helping you build and DM.

See you soon. And good luck!

One Q tho:
Whats the name of your favourite dead horse?

[Galadorn]

((omg i saw a Virvaldin!!! ))

[Mord]

Hello. What makes you a better candidate for lead admin than Veilan?